Mercado v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The evidence presented showed that on November 2, 1983, Valentin Sanchez punched an intoxicated driver in the face outside of the Las Vegas Bar around 5:30 p.m. Sanchez testified that appellant was the person he hit that afternoon. According to Sanchez, appellant said at that time that he was the brother of ‘La Changa’ and that he would come back to the bar in one hour and kill Sanchez and his family. About an hour after the initial altercation at the bar, appellant, several other adults, and some children returned to the bar in a Buick. As the car pulled up to the bar, three of the adults began shooting firearms at Sanchez. Sanchez was shot in his upper arm, about six inches from his heart. * * * * * * Other witnesses called by the State included a barmaid from the Las Vegas Bar whose fingers were apparently shot off during this incident, a police detective who described the scene shortly after the shooting and presented physical evidence recovered at the scene, ... the hospital records custodian who introduced the victim’s emergency room and medical records and who also testified that appellant would have killed the victim had it been six inches closer to the center of his body,.... While the record is not specific in reflecting the identity of appellant, those who testified as to the identity of the assailants all made their description consistent with his identity and constituted sufficient evidence, along with Valentin Sanchez’ positive identification, to justify the ju”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Mercado v. State

2. ““In passing upon the intent of the defendant, if any [sic], you should look to the character of the weapon used. If the weapon was a deadly weapon, you may infer, from the use of such weapon, an intent to kill. A firearm is a deadly weapon. A gun or pistol used as a firearm is a deadly weapon per se.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Mercado v. State